hey all,

technically, couldn't you auction an item from amazon on ebay, and then send it to the bidder as a gift?

the only thing i can't explain away is the amazon packaging.....

i mean, if you go to a dropshipper they sell the same stuff the merchants at amazon are selling...only the merchants are selling it for like 50% less...

anyways, have any of you guys tried this? i just did a test auction where i sold a book for 15 dollars (including ship) but found it on amazon for 8 dollars (including ship) . I contacted the merchant selling the book not to include a receipt cuz i was sending the book as a gift to a friend.

he said, no problem...

now gotta see what happens when the bidder gets the book...

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Even worst than that packaging would be the amazon.com packing slip.

I'm not saying you shouldn't give it a shot, but if I was the recipient I'd be royally ticked off.

well, if you send the item as a gift, they don't include a recipt/invoice

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I was thinking along the same. There are those people who pay more than retail for many things on eBay, so if they are dumb enough to do that, then certainly I can use Amazon or whoever to ship them their purchase.

I mean seriously, if I list a new Ipod Touch for full retail, shipping included, and someone buys it, why should it matter where it comes from? They purchased a new Ipod Touch and I "delivered" it to them. Transaction completed according to the terms of the auction.

Haven't had amazon send me a gift, but it would make sense if they did not include receipts in gift packages.

If you can always buy off sellers that you have good communication with and so that they do not send receipts, it is a workable idea.

Only problem may arise if you are buying off amazon and always requesting gifts. Plus always having different shipping and ordering addresses. It can get a little suspicious.

Is there a clause in Amazon's terms against this? It's not like I'd be buying the items using my affiliate link....now that I know violates their affiliate agreement.

why would amazon care if you're buy lots of gifts for friends...?

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That's an old carder trick for selling things bought with stolen credit cards. The basis of the work from home processing auction scams. There is a spending limit then they will verify.

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I'm going to try it. I have to buy a book for a friend of mine so I'll just send it as a gift and see what he gets. If there's no packaging problem, no receipt, they would be the greatest dropshippers around cause you sure wouldn't have to worry about them no fulfilling the order. If the box isn't marked, that would be fine. Otherwise, you'd have to ship it to yourself then reship, which is the royal pain of selling anything on Ebay that's yours. Also, a lot of stuff on Amazon is discounted.

I'm already reshipping cosmetics, and trust me, it's a hassle. Just my thoughts on it.

Zaahn

I agree with tonlilah. Why would Amazon give two shits about whether it's a gift or not? It's not like you're doing anything shady. You can't help it buyers don't have the sense or the resources to find the best deal on the Internet.

Hey guys

this is somewhat a good idea, but i did shop with amazon and asked to send it has a gift to my brother, the problem is, he got the box with those BIG letters: "Amazon.co.uk" and stickers with the amazon name and delivery plant adress, in case the mail guys missed the destination adress.

about the invoice, i dont remember if there was any.

Yes you could do this, I have done it before and never had a complaint

A lot of eBay sellers also sell on Amazon sometimes under the same name sometimes another. Just explain to the buyer that you are sending the item from your Amazon store and if they have any questions to contact you.

The only issue with Amazon is that the prices for a certain item can fluctuate daily even from the same seller, although I am not sure why.

well, what i was thinking about doing was setting the price at a amazon's price.....but when i get a winning bid, pick one of the merchants selling
the same item at amazon (contacting them before to get the gift option so they can leave out the invoice)

i also make sure to note in my auctions that the item is used just incase i cant find the item new....

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Amazon is definitely a great idea as it takes out the hassle of shipping goods and if you set it up right you can even earn your affiliate commission ... I know some guys youse this tactic to stuff ebay...

first they earn through stuffing
second they sell an item (most of the time with a nice win and no hassle shipping it!)
and third they make a commission on Amazon
and sometimes they use one of those Money back business credit cards that give you a 2% return of all your purchases

say hallelujah

Just curious how they are finalizing the eBay transaction through their Amazon affiliate code. Can you expand on this?

Booman, don't know what you mean .. Sorry if I was unclear... This is the setup .... (as much as I know off)

1. They use two or more entities (LLC ...etc)
2. Entity 1 is posting the item on Ebay ..... (including different methods to stuff the user on Ebay or on another page)
3. People would bid and eventually buy the item (thus revenue from stuffing)
4. Entity 1 would buy the item through the amazon aff. link of the second entity and ship it to the buyer (revenue from the amazon aff. and the sale on ebay)
5. While paying on Amazon for the item, entity 1 uses a 2%back credit card ...

Hope that makes it clearer now ...

probably i'm missing here something
are you guys talking about buying directly to amazon and give your ebay costumer's adress so amazon will ship to that adress or are you guys talking about buying to sellers on amazon and give them your ebay costumer adress?

because if it is the first case, aint gonna be a problem that the box amazon uses has all over it "Amazon.com" stuff?! This way your costumer will know that he actually "bought" something from amazon and not from you.

if it is the second case, do the amazon sellers have any kind of ads on he's box ?! If they dont, this would be a great idea

TIA

Well you can handle this either way ....

1. As jazz99 mentioned earlier you can just say that you are fulfilling your orders through Amazon!! (If you use their fulfillment center they always use packaging that uses the Amazon print on it) Just sent it as a gift and no receipt will be included in the package.

2. Use one of the second had sellers on Amazon and you can arrange with them however you want the item to be shipped. I personally work with a few that even would include my "advertisement materials" and use my shipping label ... All depends on how much you order with them ....

I sometimes find it really funny, that buyers on ebay pay more for a second hand good then what they would have to pay on Amazon for the same good brand new ... But let them be that way

do these second hand sellers get pissed you're reselling their stuff on ebay?

how do you word an email that gets them to work with you? See....my email went something like...."i'm sending this as a gift for a good friend of mine, please don't include an invoice/recipt".... but then it limits me on putting in a note in the package...i mean it would look weird if i asked the guy to add a note that reads...."thank you for your ebay purchase"

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The few I work with couldn't care less ... They are in the business of selling books, electronics etc ... (lots of it) and I am just another guy who brings in sales.... They save on advertisement costs, etc and are happy ...

I build a relationship over time... and YES they even allow me to put in my fliers etc.

very nice ideas, I could click thanks in almost every post

We always appreciate if someone clicks the Thanks Button.

Thank you

I'm gonna give this a spin. I'll let you guys know what happens.

It's Amazon Arbitrage. I have read about people also selling things on yahoo auctions that were purchased on ebay, and vice versa.

Amazon is obiously going to be allot more stable to deal with because the prices should not change as much.

If you have a hard time dealing with Amazon just have them deliver to you, and then send to the customer (Maybe in a new package). Actually touching the product will also allow you to upsell the customer by including a list of more products you are selling.

Why don't you also start buying through an affiliate link to get a few extra change.

Before the change of Ebay's tangible good ruling you could always sell a document saying you will give the buyer the location of an online shop that will provide him the "item" for such an such price ... similar to all those wholesale lists ... (Nowadays you would have to sell it in the cd format ... but the hassle is not worth my time)

What you did then was to:

List a popular item with the description that you will sell them the "online location" of the product for $. They would buy it for $ and your online delivery script would send them a document with the link to the online shop that sold the item for $ (of course that link was an affiliate link for whatever online shop you were promoting) And you always could include an upsell

Stupid me...much clearer!

ok, so i don't want to sound like a complete moron when i do this.....

so do i wait till after i sell the product to contact the potential merchant and say, 'can i sell your stuff for you?' or 'do i just continue to tell them it's a gift' i mean especially for expensive stuff like tvs or computers.....what is the best way to word an email and make it sound right...

do i say something like,

or does that sound to stupid?

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Sounds good so far ...

You are going for the heavy stuff, TV's?? Don't know, I would feel uncomfortable - shit like that breaks easily and then you are really in between seats... I would go for stuff that is better to transport, can't break easily but still has a lot of value ... In shot, Items that have a low refund rate but are high of value ...

The only way I would sell TV's online is by send the stuff through either Cosco, Best BUY or Sams Club ... including their service to set up the TV .... Can sell it as a "service"

Good luck

Man, this is a nice thread. It gave me some good ideas.

Thanks Nixte!

i'm "in" this idea now
probably i'll test it with some low price item and see how it goes.

anyone here have tested this? Any feedback?

It does not matter one bit about the package/slip.
Using Amazon for drop shipping is a fantastic idea when doing cs.
Remember you are not building your "brand" in these kind of auctions, so it does not need to have your logo/company name/invoice etc...

On a separate note, if you want branding, you can setup your own Amazon store.

Let me know how it goes ...

a buddy of mine recently had me bid up his PS3 he listed on ebay (he was stuffing the auction obviously), he had me bid above retail price, so that either way he'd be in the clear. ended up selling for something like $700, can get it off amazon for like $500. this would be a REALLY nice way to keep your fees to a minimum, stuff legit auctions for once AND make some extra change off of people who are dumb enough to pay above retail. you really can't go wrong with this...

The whole paying above retail thing really has to do with people's desire to win. They start bidding on something low, and get attached to it, they WANT to win, and in that desire to win, they throw reason to the wind, and end up paying more than they wanted to, but they WON damnit, and they're proud of that.. LOL! (at least, this is my take on it, I'm sure someone that has taken some psychology classes can chime in and give the name for this/confirm this? hehe)

yeah i'm pretty sure that's a big factor in it, but i also think some people just don't know how to use the internet and compare prices. they think that eBay will always have the lowest prices because that's what it is known for (getting stuff cheap) and so they bid, not knowing any better.

True, there ARE many people that aren't too ... uhm... 'net savy we'll say. I've watched some other people surf and the things they do... just make me cringe.. lol!

"Oh, you want a new xxxxxxx? You can go online to the ebay and get it!"

Just send the package to your self first then to the buyer. Only a 3 day delay.

let me add that you can also profit in the shipping because amazon charge very low for shipping

Why are you guys so worried about "Amaz0n" written across the box? Who gives a sh!t? How many times have you gotten sh!t in the mail in some haggard box that bears no resemblance to where you actually bought it from? What if the box was purchased from u-haul? Do you think people are going to flip out? Nope..

Stop worrying about details that matter none, and go make some $$. Nothing is going to happen even if they customer asks why did it come from amaz0n. Just tell them you own the company and times are tight.

Xim

Just include in the auction terms that the item ships 3 to 5 business days after payment. Make sure your order is shipped from Amazon w/ 2 to 3 day delivery, then re-ship once received.

However, you may have to jack the shipping costs a little or take a lower profit margin due to the additional shipping costs.

Well said mate!

this thread should be at the vip section and i think another way to make big profits dropshipping with amazon is to include a bonus to your costumers example if you are going to be selling i-phones inclued like a i-phone hacking ebook hype it up by saying you will get a top secret i-phone hacking ebook that teaches you how to get more out of your i-phone another example if your selling gaming console include a free cheat ebook that way you could charge for more for your actions and get more viewers one thing i know is that people love freebies lol.

i started an updated thread in jr. vip

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I would say that most people don't care at all where it came from or what the box says. They just want the product in the condition you described it.

They may be pretty pissed if they see how much you payed for it though...but the gift option should take care of that.

amazon is great for shipping products to ppl who win ebay auctions

What will one submit as proof of shipment if the buyer ever complains?